It is said that Socrates was obsessed with one central aim in his search for wisdom: To know himself. The basic question is what is man? This is a legitimate question.
When a young man leaves home traveling aimlessly in search of “finding himself” he is looking for the answer to an important question. He is most likely going to end up looking in the wrong places for the answer. What does the revealed Word of God say about this?
We should know something about the answer to what is man because, well, because we are human. Man does not find his ultimate meaning by going out to search for it. His value has been bestowed upon him by God. The truth of Jesus statement is telling.
For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. (Matthew 16:25)
The Christian view of man gives every individual a sense of identity. In the Bible we see the origin of man created by God. The Word of God is where we should go on our journey to finding ourselves. In this journey we are hitchhiking through the chapters of the Bible.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:26-28)
One of the most basic presumptions of Christian belief is that God is our creator. He created everything. In the beginning God created the heavens and earth. God created Man. There is the union of a man and woman for the beginning point of human life, but God is the origin.
Man is a created being, and all created beings are totally dependent on God. As a creature I cannot move a finger or speak a word apart from God.
Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? (Romans 9:21)
Man comes into being because God willed it. God existed in eternity and acted to bring man into being.
Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. (Psalm 100:3)
Man cannot become truly independent of God. He may declare himself to be independent of God, but he is not. Every breath you take every beat of your heart is from God. That is why stewardship is all our life rightfully belonging to God.
The way man is made is a stark contrast to how the creatures and livestock were made in Genesis 1:24. There it is for the livestock, let the land produce. Beyond the union of our parents, beyond the sustaining provision of the earth we look to God who created us.
Man did not originate through chance process of evolution, but by a conscious purposeful act of God. There is a reason for man’s existence, a reason which lies at the intension of the supreme being.
Human life has ultimate value. This is because man is created in the image of God. Man can make decisions, set goals and man possesses freedom. Humans are very different than robots. When we move our fingers, we move them.
When we speak, we are the ones who determine the words. Only man is said to be made in the image of God.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (Genesis 1:26)
Because we are created in the image of God, we are valuable. The sanctity of human life, the sacredness of human life is extremely important in God’s scheme. Even after the fall of man murder was prohibited. It is because man is made in the image of God.
Man, even as a sinner possessed the image of God. For this is the grounds of prohibiting murder. You may wonder what would man be like if sin had not tainted him. How would we then be in the image of God. We look to Jesus Christ to find the answer.
Jesus is the complete revelation of what the image of God is. He is the one person whose humanity was never spoiled by sinning. In the image of God, we are part of nature, yet we have authority over the other creatures. Man has responsibility of the natural world.
Without the image of God, man would not be human. Man alone of all creatures of the earth can have a conscious personal relationship with the creator. Man has the capacity to love and worship God. When we worship God we are most human because we are made in the image of God. Man is valuable to God. Every hair is numbered.
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. (Matthew 10:28-31)
Man’s problem is a broken relationship with God. In our study of man we must remember that human beings are creatures of God, and that human beings are sinners and accountable to God.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
An act of violence may be a crime against a state or wrongdoing to a neighbor, but that same act is a sin against God. David committed adultery with Bathsheba and arranged for her husband Uriah to be killed as a cover up. He said, against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge. (Psalm 51:4)
As humans we can hide our sins and even deceive ourselves of our sin, but God knows our sins. God created man for fellowship and there is an accountability to God. And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” (Genesis 2:16-17)
Eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil was prohibited. The misuse of man’s freedom resulted in sin. Our freedom caries responsibilities to God. We do not need to look to the garden of Eden as our problem. All of us has sinned.
Jesus stressed our motives even beyond our overt act of sin. Was creation declared good? Yes, but sin changed all that. It brought about death. The earth was cursed and man’s relationship with God was broken.
There can be no worse plight for man that his broken relationship with God. Nothing more tragic than men and women die by the thousands with a broken relationship with God, meaning separation and hell.
Man’s relationship with God is restored through Jesus Christ. As tragic as man’s plight so is how wonderful is the good news of man being brought right with God through Jesus. Regeneration is the work of the Holy Spirit, but God calls you to faith, belief in Jesus Christ.
Man has an eternal dimension. He was created in a beginning point of time, but created by an eternal God. And man has an eternal future. We do people no favor if we shelter them from thinking about their eternal destiny.
When Jesus talked with the Pharisees about the issue of paying taxes to Caesar, he asked whose image appears on the coin. The answer Caesar. Render unto Caesar the things that belong to Caesar and to God the things that belong to God.
Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14 They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? 15 Should we pay or shouldn’t we?” But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16 They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” “Caesar’s,” they replied. 17 Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” And they were amazed at him. (Mark 12:13-17)
Since man is a creature, God must regenerate him. Since man is a person man must believe in Christ. There is more rejoicing over the one lost sheep that the 99 that were never lost. You have value.
You have the image of God. Won’t you give your life to God? We experience full humanity only when we are properly related to God. That was the end for which you were created, to know God. You experience that fullness of humanity when you put your faith in Jesus Christ, asking his death on the cross to pay the penalty for your sins.
Below is the statement on man from the Baptist faith and message.
https://bfm.sbc.net/bfm2000/
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Man
Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.
Genesis 1:26-30; 2:5,7,18-22; 3; 9:6;
Psalms 1; 8:3-6; 32:1-5; 51:5;
Isaiah 6:5;
Jeremiah 17:5;
Matthew 16:26;
Acts 17:26-31;
Romans 1:19-32; 3:10-18,23; 5:6,12,19; 6:6; 7:14-25; 8:14-18,29;
1 Corinthians 1:21-31; 15:19,21-22;
Ephesians 2:1-22;
Colossians 1:21-22; 3:9-11.
